Experimental - FST 302

Maya Deren was pretty hardcore. I admire the fact that all of her films were silent and that she was very particular about the way her films were presented, which is how it should be. One works hard to create this form of art and it should be respected, and after said artist is gone, one should still honor the wishes made by the filmmaker and screen the film with the upmost respect.

Harry Smith sounded like my kind of filmmaker. He was fascinated with the occult, collected records, and enjoyed folk music, and I can totally relate to every aspect of that! In addition, he was one of the first to utilize the concept of Synesthesia, which honestly is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. I don’t understand why it is so visually appealing to watch lights and shapes sync up to music, but I find it so relaxing. I really liked the video snippet of his film we were shown (I forgot the name of it, my apologies.)

Although the presentation was quite long, I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the life of Jonas Mekas. I knew of a little of his work, but I never knew that he was deemed “The Godfather of Avant Garde.” I also enjoyed the little snippets of his vlogging. I had wrote down a quote that was said during the presentation and I now want to make it an effort to incorporate it into my being: “To be normal is a disaster.”

This article gave a rundown on the different types of foreign films that made their way to art house cinemas and microcinemas, and how those niche films are now being more incorporated into the mainstream media. Indie films are becoming more popular, for audience now look for a new take on cinema. I just really need to say that I had NO idea that The Passion of the Christ was a foreign film. I knew it was Mel Gibson, but it never dawned on me that it was actually a foreign film.

Natural light doesn’t find itself into my room too well. My window is away from the sun, so I basically get reflected soft light from neighboring buildings. I always keep my lamp on. It’s not one of those hardcore lamps that blind you, but more of a big desk lamp. It gives the majority of the room a soft orange glow. Since it is not that big of a lamp, there are parts of the room where the light is significantly softer. Other than my lamp and the little bit of soft reflected light, there isn’t much else in my room that I’ve noticed that give off a bright light. There is a small red light on the TV that lets us know it is off, but it isn’t bright enough to do anything. There is also the soft green glow of my printer’s light that lights the underside of my desk. But are subtle, but noticeable when you sit and actually look for light. Nothing in my room provides a harsh light in any way. I have never noticed that before. 

First off, let me give a shameless promotion for The Rocky Horror Picture Show  (1975) shadowcast that is this Saturday at midnight at Lumina! Come out and support us! I am Columbia this year! Rehearsal usually lets out between 6 and 6:30 in the evenings, meaning this is right around the time the sun starts setting. It’s so pretty outside during this time. The street lights turn on, providing a soft orange glow that reflects off the sidewalk as I make my way home. The setting sun brightens the horizon with a multitude of warm colors. Occasionally, the baseball field is lit up, for there are construction workers out and about over there. From a distance, it gives a very harsh glow. The closer I get to it, the more intense the lighting. My apartment complex is surrounded by trees, so not a lot of natural light gets in. The only thing we really have are the streetlights, that delicately light up the parking lot with a soft white glow.

I enjoyed this assignment. I had made a soundscape before, but nothing quite to this extreme. Glenn Pack had us do a similar assignment in FST 201, but it wasn’t as extensive as this one was. In that class, we just all kind of threw the sounds together in a timeline, without altering and manipulating how they sounded. There was much more creative liberty to this assignment, because not only were the sounds used more unique, but it was also a chance to showcase the editing skills I had picked up since the entry level class. It’s amazing to go back to previous projects and see how much you progress in such a short time. I did learn that sound design isn’t easy. It took a good bit of planning to see which direction we were going to take our soundscape and even then, we didn’t end up with our original idea. It takes a lot of patience as well as fine tuned listening to achieve the exact sound that you’re going for.